Visible Measures Announces Choice-Based Video Ad Network

Viewable Media is the world's first data-driven video ad network that empowers audiences to choose and share video ads

BOSTON, April 4, 2011 -- Visible Measures, the independent third-party media measurement firm for online video advertisers and publishers, today announced the launch of Viewable Media™, a first-of-its-kind video ad network that enables advertisers to influence audience choice and organic sharing for video ads. Powered by the patented Visible Measures platform and Viral Reach Database™, the analytics video system that fuels the Ad Age Viral Video Chart, Viewable Media allows advertisers to buy user-initiated views in social video, making Viewable Media the only video ad network with the capability to both drive and measure user-initiated views and Earned Media.

"Advertisers and media buyers have long relied upon Visible Measures as the leading social video measurement platform. As our capabilities have grown, our clients have recognized that our data, technology, and algorithms can help them maximize campaign virality and brand lift. Today, we're taking these capabilities to a new level by introducing Viewable Media, the world's first video ad network built from the ground up to systematically drive audience choice and viral spread of video ads at scale," said Visible Measures founder and CEO Brian Shin. "Visible Measures will continue building upon its leadership position in social video campaign measurement and video analytics, and continue powering industry visibility with charts like the Ad Age Viral Video Chart, the Variety Top 10 Online Film Trailers Chart, and the Motor Trend Auto Ads Chart. But now, with its industry-leading dataset, patented technologies, and Earned Media video algorithms, Visible Measures will give Viewable Media the unique capability to deliver superior results for advertisers."

When advertisers buy user-initiated views, they are enabling audiences to choose to watch their ads, as opposed to broadcasting them with ad formats like pre-roll. User-initiated views perform better for brand advertisers than forced impressions because they significantly increase the quality of viewership. In fact, research from The Pool indicates that when audiences choose which ad they watch – as opposed to being forced to watch a pre-roll advertisement – brand lift metrics increase between 300% and 450%. User-initiated views also increase sharing, which drives endorsed brand reach, also known as Earned Media. User-initiated views and Earned Media are the highest impact views advertisers can achieve in online video.

"It is clear that some of the most effective marketing occurs when people choose to interact with a Client message and/or pass it along to their friend," said Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer of VivaKi. “The challenge for the industry,” he pointed out, "is how to get user-initiated views and pass along in a scalable and non-random manner. Viewable Media solves for this key client need, which will grow more urgent in a world of the People's Network."

Unlike all other video ad networks, Viewable Media is built on the world's largest foundation of social video data, powered by Visible Measures. This enables advertisers who run campaigns on the Viewable Media ad network to receive independent, third-party campaign performance measurement from Visible Measures. The patented Visible Measures platform allows advertisers to measure the True Reach™ of their campaign performance, providing coverage for both paid and Earned Media across hundreds of sites and networks. Advertisers using Viewable Media can also receive competitive benchmarks and Share of Choice™ reporting for their campaign, brand, and industry, based on Visible Measures' normative database of over 375 million videos collected from over 300 video destination sites.

"Advertisers are beginning to understand the power of audience choice and many of them are shifting their strategies to drive that choice towards their ads and brands," said Scott Sorokin, Global Digital Leader at MindShare. "Being able to generate choice-based views for your brand in a world where audiences can choose to watch whatever they want will be a critical component of every brand's strategy from now on."

To launch the Viewable Media video ad network, Visible Measures has recruited a team of industry leaders from the ad network space to run operations. The team will be led by Steven T.A. Carter, formerly of Tremor Media, ScanScout, and Specific Media, who will serve as Viewable Media's General Manager. (See corresponding press release for more information on Viewable Media's leadership team.)

Available immediately with performance-based pricing, Viewable Media enables advertisers to drive audience choice and sharing for video ads. To learn more about Viewable Media, please visit: www.viewablemedia.com or e-mail info@viewablemedia.com.

About Visible MeasuresVisible Measures is the independent third-party media measurement firm for online video advertisers and publishers. Designed from the ground up to meet the unique challenges of measuring online video, the company's patented platform powers the Viewable Media choice-based video ad network. Visible Measures provides its customers and clients with unprecedented visibility into the performance of paid and Earned Media placements and engagement in online video. Visible Measures is a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB) Digital Video Committee and the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). To learn more about Visible Measures and explore its industry-wide charts, please visit http://www.visiblemeasures.com.

About Viewable MediaViewable Media is the video ad network of Choice for advertisers. The only network designed to systematically drive user-initiated views and Earned Media at scale, Viewable Media is powered by Visible Measures' industry-leading social video database and measurement platform, patented technologies, and Earned Media video algorithms. By driving user-initiated views and video ad sharing, Viewable Media provides its clients with the highest quality views available in online video. To learn more about Viewable Media and its choice-based video ad network, please visit http://www.viewablemedia.com.

The announcement was made during the IAB's 2011 Digital Video Marketplace.